Richard ivey school of business the university of western ontario

1. Richard Ivey School of Business The University of Western
Ontario
IVEY
W12427
ASSIGNED LEADER GROUP EXERCISE: ASSESSING YOUR
LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Professors Cherlyn Granrose and Alison Konrad wrote this case
solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do
not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of
a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised cettain
names and other identi行inginformation to protect
confidentiality
Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation prohibits any form
of reproduction, storage or transmission without its written
permission. Reproduction of this material is not covered under
authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order
copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact
Ivey Publishing, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation,
The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada,
N6A 3K 7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail
[email protected]
Co ri ht ©2012 , Richard Ive School of Business Foundation
Version: 2012-10-25
This exercise is a group discussion for five to six participants,
where each participant serves as a leader for one case and as a
participant for the remaining case discussions. The discussion

2. has the potential for you to exhibit effective leader and
follower group behaviors as well as your oral communication,
judgment, and decision-making skills.
You will be randomly assigned to groups of six, and each of you
will get a chance to lead the group in a discussion of one of the
business problems in the six mini-cases presented at the end of
this reading (Exhibit l). You will also be asked to serve as an
observer for one of the six group discussions by completing the
group observation form (Exhibit 2). After your group has
completed all six discussions, everyone will be asked to use the
participant report form (Exhibit 3) to rank the six members of
their group in order from greatest to least contribution to the
group's effectiveness. Depending upon your instructor's wishes,
you may also be observed in person or videotaped for
assessment by a trained expert. Based on the ratings you
receive from your group members and from the expert assessor,
you will receive a confidential summary report on your
leadership skills.
You will not know which of the six case discussions you'11 be
leading until the day of the exercise, so please read and think
about all six short cases in Exhibit 1 in order to prepare
yourself to lead any of the six discussions on the day of the
exercise.
IMPORTANT: Before coming to class, identify your preferred
solution to each case by circling it on the case forms in Exhibit
1, and write your name in the space provided.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR GROUP DISCUSSIONS
There are two goals for your group. The fast goal is to come to
a consensus about which alternative action (offered at the end
of each case) should be adopted. The second group goal is to
use all of the strengths of each member of the team to perform

3. as effectively as possible as a team in reaching this
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consensus. A consensus decision does not mean that every
person completely agrees with every aspect of the decision; it
means only that each person is willing to accept this decision as
the best possible group decision.
During the fast 5 to IO minutes of class, your instructor will
randomly assign you to groups, and each group will be assigned
to a breakout room for the individual discussions. Your
instructor will also inform you who is assigned to the role of
leader and who is assigned to the role of observer for each of
the six case discussions. Then, do the exercise by completing
the following steps:
I. Go to your assigned location together and arrange the chairs
around the table in boardroom style, seating the assigned
leader for case discussion I at the head of the table.
2. The observer's chair should be located away from the table so
that note-taking does not disturb the group discussion.
3. If you are being videotaped, the observer should make sure
the camera is focused on the assigned leader. When you are
ready to begin, the observer should make sure the camera is
turned on and recording. Once the camera is rolling, let it go
until all six case discussions have been completed

4. 4. Please take no more than 10 to 15 minutes to discuss the
case.
5. After consensus has been reached on the fi 订st case, the
observer should record the group's selection on the GROUP
OBSERVATION FORM (Exhibit 2).
6. When you have made a decision as a group, switch seats so
that the assigned leader for case discussion 2 moves to the
head of the table, with the video camera focused on him or her.
The observer for discussion 2 should take the observer's seat.
7. Repeat the process until you have completed all 6 case
discussions and everyone has had a chance to take the role of
leader and the role of observer.
8. Privately complete the PARTICIPANT REPORT FORM
(Exhibit 3).
9. Submit the completed forms in Exhibits 1, 2 and 3 to your
instructor at the end of the exercise, ensuring that you have put
your name on your copies of the forms.
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Exhibit 1 MINI-CASES
(To be completed individually prior to class as preparation for
the exercise and submitted to your instructor when the exercise
is complete)

5. Your name:
All members
As preparation for the Assigned Leader Exercise, please read
each case and circle your preferred solution before class.
CASE#1
Derek has just been hired as a new supervisor of the quality
control department of a Silicon Valley electronics firm. He was
hired to create an exemplary quality control program that could
be the heart of the firm's reputation and brand. The previous
supervisor had been transferred to Shanghai to co-ordinate
quality control between the Chinese and U.S. branches of the
firm. As Derek began to get to know his new team, he found the
team had fairly high performance standards, good morale and
low turnover. He also heard from several team members that
Derek's predecessor had been lax about following company
rules to the letter, and he did notice that several team members
sometimes left work early, came back from lunch a bit late or
forgot to let him know when they were going to be out of the
office. Derek was concerned that this lack of attention to
company rules might carry over into laxity about upholding the
highest quality standards in other areas of the team's work, and
he knew that his boss believed that he should be sure no
employees abused company rules.
What should Derek do about discipline? (Please circle your
preferred solution before class.)
A. Do nothing about discipline, concentrate on quality, and
justify his decision to his supervisor based on the team's high
performance and low turnover.
B. Gradually mention it to individual workers when he notices
rule infractions, and work one-on-one to create change, one

6. person at a time.
C. Tell his work group that he wants them to consistently follow
the company rule on lunch breaks. When he gets good
compliance on this rule do the same to change the team's
behaviour one rule at a time, until the whole team is following
all the rules.
D. Call a special meeting to discuss rule infractions and let the
team decide how to enforce the rules.
E. At his next team meeting, tell all employees that he is going
to start enforcing all company policies and rules and imposing
company punishments on all offenders consistently and
equitably.
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Exhibit 1 (continued)
Your name:
Qingyun Guan
CASE#2
Jennifer has just received her MBA and is currently working in
a manufacturing setting where three of her four subordinates,
withwhom she must work daily, are male; all four are older than
she is. Jennifer gets along prettywell with the three men, but her
one female subordinate, Emma, has done less work than the
others, produces poor results when she does do her work, and
has challenged Jennifer publicly. "We never did it this way
before and it always worked just fine"was a typical comment

7. from Emma when Jennifer was discussing changes with her
team. To avoid confrontation, Jennifer has found herself giving
more work to other team members or doing it herself. Jennifer
has heard through the grapevine that Emma has had an affair
with the vice-president, and that this affair may still be
continuing, even though it violates the company policies.
Jennifer knows that her immediate boss, a nephew of the vice-
president, will not touch the situation for fear of upsetting his
uncle (i.e., the vice-president).
What should Jennifer do about Emma? (Please circle your
preferred solution before class.)
A. Talk to the human resources director and try to get Emma
transferred.
B. Go over her boss's head and talk to the division chief about
how Emma's poor work performance is interfering with other
team members'work and how her own supervisor refuses to take
any action.
C. Ignore the problem and hope that Emma will come to accept
her leadership once she realizes that, as the new boss, Jennifer
is more than capable.
D. At a team meeting, ask for her team's help in improving their
team's work and praise Emma's suggestions.
E. Meetwith Emma privately to try to identify her problem
andwork out a solution, even though she is fairly sure that
Emma will not want to talk to her.
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Exhibit 1 (continued)
Your name:
Lingyun Feng
CASE#3
Courtney was a manager of a large retail chain store in a major
metropolitan area. Shoplifting and employee theft were a major
threat to the profitability of the store. During a loss-reduction
se皿nar for store managers, the loss prevention manager from
co叩orate headquarters explained that while it was key to reduce
theft losses, many chain stores had a policy of not pressing
charges with the police unless a thief had stolen at least $100
worth of merchandise at one time or was a repeat offender. This
chain also believed that was the most efficient policy to follow,
since it lost money prosecuting smaller cases. Recently the
department manager of women's clothing, Chris, reported that
she had seen one of her sales associates put a wrap worth $95 in
her handbag and carry it out of the store when she left work for
the day. The department manager was rumoured to have had
other conflicts with this associate in the past, so Courtney could
not be 100 per cent certain that the theft had really occurred.
There was no evidence of the theft on the store's surveillance
video, but the video cameras did not cover 100 per cent of the
floor area.
What should Courtney do about the reported theft? (Please
circle your preferred solution before class.)
A. Tell Chris to let it go because she was enforcing a policy of
no reporting of thefts under $100, but tell human resources that
this associate had stolen a wrap and should have a note put in
her employment file in case she did it again.

9. B. Ask Chris to meet with the associate and issue a warning that
a theft had been observed, and if another one occurred or was
suspected, the associate would be terminated and prosecuted in
court.
C. Ask the associate to meet with Courtne y and talk over the
relationship between the associate and her supervisor, but not
mention the theft unless the associate reported other false
accusations.
D. Arrange for Chris and the associate to meet in Courtney's
office and discuss the theft and possible consequences of the
theft, including the associate losing her job.
E. Ask someone from the human resources department to
investigate the accusation and defence of each party and resolve
the issue as a possible false accusation, forgetting about the
theft since it was under
$100.
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Exhibit 1 (continued)
Your name:
Yongbo Shao
CASE#4
When he graduated with his honours undergraduate degree in

10. business, Jordan was hired as a marketing representative for a
large consumer products firm. Within 18 months, he was
transferred to another group
and promoted to the position of supervisor. About a third of
Jordan's direct reports were 10 or more years older than he was,
and they seemed less than pleased when he was introduced as
their new supervisor. While he was able to build respectful and
supportive relationships with many of the younger employees,
the older group remained aloof.
Four months into his new job, Jordan was informed that his
group would be upgraded to a new computer software system
and was asked to send all his employees to training. Jordan took
the training himself first, and then asked his employees to sign
up for the time slots that would be the most convenient for
them. Members of the older group of employees were the last to
sign up, saying they were in the middle of a busy season for
their clients, and couldn't take the time. Then, the trainer
complained to Jordan that his employees had not paid much
attention during the training, instead responding to e-mails on
their smartphones or stepping out to take client calls. After the
training, the older group of workers complained that the new
system was ineffective and inferior to the old one. One person,
David, spoke the loudest and made the most complaints,
explaining that he was speaking for the entire group of
"seasoned veterans who really know what makes this business
run."
What should Jordan do? (Please circle your preferred solution
before class.)
A. Speak to David privately about his obstructiveness, and warn
him that if he doesn't co-operate by learning and using the new
system, he will receive a written warning.

11. B. Do nothing about David's complaints; over time, he and the
other veterans will have to learn the system if they want to get
good appraisals, raises and bonuses.
C. Call a meeting of the entire group and ask for feedback on
the new system. Identify those individuals who are most
technologically savvy and develop a plan together for getting
everyone up to speed on all of the features and functions of the
new system.
D. Speak to David in front of the group of seasoned veterans.
Explain that he appreciates David's views and would like the
entire group to get together regularly to exchange information
and knowledge across all of the employees in the work group.
E. Get advice from his own supervisor regarding how to proceed
with managing the different personalities and perspectives
among his employees and how to best implement the
changeover.
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Exhibit 1 (continued)
Your name:
Yuhan Yin
CASE#5
Jean-Louis has recently been promoted to supervisor of his
group. He got along well with everyone in the group and had a
few close friends in the group, including Cameron. Six months

12. into Jean-Louis's tenure as supervisor, Cameron told血n that
Genevieve had started complaining that Jean-Louis was playing
favourites and giving the best and most interesting assignments
to his friends, leaving her and the other "outsiders" with the
routine jobs that would not help them become more promotable.
Genevieve apparently was threatening to go to Jean-Louis's boss
to complain about his unfair and arbitrary project assignments.
What should Jean-Louis do? (Please circle your preferred
solution before class.)
A. Ask Cameron to keep an eye on the situation and report to
him about anything Genevieve says about his management style.
B. Speak to Genevieve directly, tell her what Cameron said, and
ask her to explain herself.
C. Call a meeting of the entire group and ask for feedback on
his management style, then, work to improve his relationships
with all of his employees.
D. Make sure that Genevieve gets her choice of assignments
when the next set of projects opens up.
E. Pre-empt any complaint by Genevieve by going to his
supervisor now, explaining the situation, and asking for advice
on how to handle it.
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Exhibit 1 (continued)

13. Your name:
Chengfeng Gao
CASE#6
Andrea is the supervisor of a group of auto mechanics, all of
whom are men. She got the supervisory position when she
decided to help build her father's car dealership business after
graduating with an honours undergraduate degree in business.
Having been brought up in the family business, Andrea was well
versed in automotive mechanics, and she kept up her technical
knowledge in order to keep pace with developments in each new
car year.
Andrea's employees respect her technical knowledge. Some of
them have known her all her life and, along with her father,
taught her how to do an oil change, a tune-up, and more
complex maintenance and
engine repairs. But a few of the newer employees — those hired
after Andrea went away to university — seem stand-offish and
unresponsive to her attempts to build a good working
relationship. Worse, she's
heard one of these guys, a man named George, make comments
about her body, and lately, he's been asking her for dates and
fmding excuses to touch her frequently. Andrea is becoming
more and more uncomfortable in the garage, and she knows her
discomfort is starting to hurt her ability to supervise her unit.
What should Andrea do? (Please circle your preferred solution
before class.)
A. Do nothing. If she's going to get along in a male-dominated
industry, she has to learn to laugh at these kinds of things.

14. B. Speak to George privately, explain that his behaviour is
making her uncomfortable, and ask him to stop.
C. Ask one of the senior mechanics whom she trusts to speak
with George about his behaviour and tell him to stop.
D. The next time George touches her or asks her for a date in
front of the other mechanics, tell him to stop bothering her,
using a strong and assertive tone to ensure the group hears.
E. Document George's behaviour: give him an oral warning the
first time he touches her or asks her for a date, give him a
written warning the next time, and the third time, fire him for
sexual harassment.
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Exhibit 2
GROUP OBSERVATION FORM
(To be completed during the exercise when you are in the role
of observer and submitted to your instructor at the end of the
exercise)
Mini-Case Number:
___3___ Consensus Decision (indicate solution a, b, c, d, e, or
describe if
combination or other): _________E_________
Observer’s Name: ___________Lingyun

15. Feng__________________________________
Assigned Leader’s Name: ____________Lingyun
Feng___________________________
Starting Time: __________16:20________________ Ending
Time: ____________16:30_______________
During the group discussion, use the space below to record your
observations of the assigned leader in each of four areas: Oral
Communications, Judgment/Decision Skills, Group Process
Leadership, and Task Leadership. Give examples of the
assigned leader’s behaviours (both effective and ineffective if
applicable) in each of the four areas.
1.
Oral Communications (clarity, persuasion, volume, pacing, non-
verbal aspects)
Rating (circle one):
poor
neutral
good
very good
excellent
Example: Everyone expresses their own opinions, and everyone
is very persuasive. For example, Chengfeng and I think E is
very good, Yuhan and Grace have the same ideas, and Yongbo
thinks C is good. When the advantages of D and the
shortcomings of C and E were proved to some extent, we both
had a good communication.
2. Judgment/ Decision Skills (quality of his/her ideas or
recommendations, discusses both pros and cons of ideas,
decisiveness balanced with openness to high quality ideas from
others)
Rating (circle one):
poor
neutral
good
very good

16. excellent
3.
Group Process Leadership (humour, praise, inclusion, conflict
resolution, compromise)
Rating (circle one):
poor
neutral
good
very good
excellent
Examples: I think I am a humour people, so I always can make a
relaxed atmosphere, in each case, include this one, although I
am an observer, but I still can make the atmosphere good.
Example: I will create a relaxed and happy position for
everyone, just like everyone sitting at the door of Starbucks and
speaking freely. Everyone has said their own opinions, and
everyone discusses their own opinions there to convince others.
4.
Task Leadership (timekeeping, goal-setting, setting up decision
processes, proposing solutions, clarifying, summarizing,
reporting)
Rating (circle one):
poor
neutral
good
very good
excellent
Examples: Our weakness is that we are not good at timekeeping.
5. Summary (leader’s general impact on the group,
understanding of the exercise and others’ ideas, general
sensitivity to others’ feelings and opinions, and impact on the
timing and structuring of the tasks.)
Rating (circle one):
poor

17. neutral
good
very good
excellent
Examples: In the beginning of the discussion, few people have
the same opinions, but after our mutual communication, we will
still reach a consensus. We are all doing well.
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Exhibit 3
PARTICIPANT REPORT FORM
(To be completed individually and in private at the end of the
exercise and submitted to your instructor) Your Name:
_________________MINGCHEN
SUN________________________
1. Indicate the degree to which you feel the individual members
contributed to the overall effectiveness of the group. Place the
name of the person you feel performed best and contributed
most to the group’s effectiveness on the line below, next to the
number “1.” Then place the name of the person you feel
performed worst and contributed least to the group’s
effectiveness on the line next to the number “6” (or 5, 4 or 3,
depending on the total number of members in your group). Place
the name of the person you feel performed second best on line
“2,” etc. Continue until you have ranked all of your group
members, including yourself. You may not place more than one
name on any line.

18. 1) Yuhan Yin_________ (Greatest Contribution)
2) Lingyun Feng
3) Chengfeng Gao
______________________________________________
4) Yongbo Shao________________________
______________________
5) Qingyun
Guan______________________________________________
6) ______________________________________________
(Least Contribution)
2. How did the person you ranked "1" contribute most to your
group's effectiveness?
Analyze problems well and have strong persuasiveness
3. How did the person you ranked last contribute least to your
group's effectiveness?
In fact, this question is difficult to answer, and dividing this
level is a very difficult choice. She is not the one who has
contributed the least. We are all a team, and we all help each
other.
4. Please rate your own behaviour on each of the following
aspects of group participation by circling the terms "never," "
rarely," "sometimes"or "o ften." When possible, give examples
of something you said or did to justify your ratings.
a) How often did you use humour or praise to encourage group
members?
Rating:
Never

19. Rarely
Sometimes
Frequently Example: Sometimes when discussing, everyone will
suddenly be quiet, so I always adjust the atmosphere here
b) How often did you try to include others who were
participating less?
Rating:
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Frequently Example: There are 5 people in our group, and we
will all participate in the speech, and we will not leave one
behind
c) How often did you try to resolve a conflict between others in
the group?
Rating:
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Frequently Example: No conflict among us
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Exhibit 3 (continued)
d) How much did you compromise in order to reach a group
consensus?
Rating:
Never

20. Rarely
Sometimes
Frequently Example:I will try to tell everyone my thoughts and
ideas, how to convince them
e) How much did you help with timekeeping or taking notes for
the group?
Rating:
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Frequently Example:Sometimes I tell all of us to pay attention
to the time.
t)
How much did you propose new ideas or build on another's
suggestions to create a solution? Rating:
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Frequently Example:As soon as I have my own ideas, I will
discuss with everyone
g) How often did you seek to clarify other people's comments or
request other information? Rating:
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Frequently Example: If I don’t understand, I always ask him or
others to make sure I clarify
h) How much did you structure the discussion by doing things
like clarifying the group goals, setting up processes for reaching
a decision or summarizing and reporting results?
Rating:
Never
Rarely
Sometimes

21. Frequently Example:
i) How often did you interrupt others, disagree with others, or
start a conflict with others in the group?
Rating:
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Frequently Example:We respect each other
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